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Battle Creek massacre
The first battle between Mormon settlers in Utah and the Timpanogos Indians who lived there occurred at Battle Creek, Utah. The sleeping Indians were outnumbered and outgunned, so they had no defense against the Deseret Militia who crept in and surrounded their camp before dawn on March 5, 1849. Mormon settlement of Utah Valley came upon the heels of the attack at Battle Creek, Utah. Events leading up to the confrontation at Battle Creek At Battle Creek, now called Pleasant Grove, Utah, not long before the first Mormon settlers arrived in Utah Valley, a group of Timpanogos Indians was attacked in a pre-dawn maneuver by Mormon Militiamen. The Company of LDS men were called from Salt Lake City on March 1, 1849, to “go to the Utah Valley against some Indians who had been stealing a lot of horses from Brigham's herd.” They were under orders “to take such measures as would put a final end to their Indian depredations in future.” They camped in the snow the first night near Little Cottonwood Canyon where a rider brought “word that the horses were not stolen.” Before morning they received orders from Salt Lake City “stating that as the horses were not stolen...we need not spend any more time in search of them but to proceed with the Indians for killing cattle as had been directed so that the nature of our expedition was not in the least changed.”On the Mormon Frontier, The Diary of Hosea Stout, Vol. 2 1844-1861, Edited by Juanita Brooks, University of Utah Press, 1964 In the morning the men continued southward to Willow Creek, (present Draper, Utah) and unanimously agreed to sustain one of their own in killing a beef from a cattle herd they came upon. The Company of men enjoyed a hearty breakfast then continued on to the Jordan River (near the border of present Salt Lake and Utah Counties) where they again camped. That day they had “learned that the stolen horses had returned to Brigham's Herd by one of his boys who came to inform us of the same.” Three times the company had now received word that the Indians had not stolen Brigham Young's horses. Even though rectifying alleged horse theft was the original stated purpose of their mission, not one of the thirty-five men turned back when that basis was shown to be a lie.Stout Diary On the third day the Company crossed into the valley of the Utah Indians (Utah Valley, present Utah County) and was “divided into two Companies....the better to divide and scour the country as we did not know where the Indians were located.” They searched unsuccessfully all day and finally camped near Utah Lake on the American Creek (present American Fork, Utah). “We were now all very tired and cold. No sign could yet be found of the Indians.” On Sunday March 4, 1849, Two young Indian braves came to the Mormon camp and were utilized as guides who would take the Company to those whom they sought. On this clear, brightly moonlit night, the Mormons followed the Provo River to the foot of the mountains then proceeded northward along the high mountain bench (above present north Orem and Lindon, Utah). They deposited their horses in a cedar grove on the mountainside and while most of the company waited near there, a reconnaissance party continued northward on foot until they spotted Indian campfires: }} Confrontation and Utes shot at Battle Creek According to Hosea Stout: Before gunfire began, there was a verbal exchange with the Indians telling the Mormons to go away and the Mormons telling the Indians to surrender. }} One of the young women who was spared pleaded with Dimick B. Huntington to save her brother who was still in the fray. Dimick consented and she brought her young teenage brother out of the willows. The boy was initially defiant, but Huntington threatened the boy that if he didn't surrender their one gun, he would kill him. The boy retrieved the gun from his kinsmen and surrendered it. Shortly thereafter, the three remaining Ute men fled. After an overnight journey, the Company arrived back in Salt Lake City on Tuesday March 6th, 1849, at “about 2 o'clock p.m. and were all discharged by the Colonel (John Scott) after he had given an account of our expedition to a large company who had gathered together when we came in. Amen." Four days later: The settlement near the site of the March 1849 attack was for years called Battle Creek, until some time later when the Mormons (LDS) living there agreed to change the name of their town to Pleasant Grove. Aftermath Casualties Most accounts say four Indian men were killed, but Oliver B. Huntington stated there were more: Bereft Indian women and children Huntington said: Captured Indian Boy possibly Blackhawk After the events at Battle Creek, Little Chief warned the settlers that the boy would later kill a white man for revenge. Nearby leaders distrust the settlers Old Elk and Stick-in-the-Head, leaders of local Timpanogos tribes, watched the settlers "relentlessly shoot down" the Utes. This contributed to their later mistrust of the settlers during the events preceding the Battle at Fort Utah. Mormon Militiamen who participated in the battle A partial list provided by Hosea Stout, Oliver B. Huntington, John BrownAutobiography of Pioneer John Brown, 1820-1896, Published 1941 and others includes: #Colonel John Scott, Commander #Alexander Williams, Aide #Sorenus Taylor #Frank Woodard #George Boyd #Hosea Stout #David Fulmer #John Brown #Oliver B. Huntington #William G. Pettey #John S. Fullmer #John Lowry #Dock Stoddard #Judson Stoddard #Shell Stoddard #Irwin Stoddard #Dimick B. Huntington, Interpreter #Barney Ward, Interpreter Events that led to the Battle Creek attack On June 28, 1847, before even the first Mormon pioneers arrived in present Utah, Brigham Young met with Jim Bridger and discussed the desirability of Utah Valley. William Clayton recorded this conversation in his journal: During the westward journey: Months later: In 1847 and 1848, nearby vicinities had been explored and favorable eye-witness accounts of Utah Valley were given to Church Authorities in Salt Lake City. Then on January 6, 1849, Brigham Young (who had been absent over 1848 while helping the Saints cross the plains to Utah) sent a party of ten men to “go to Utah Valley to learn of its capabilities for a stock range, and when the cattle go, forty or fifty men go with them.”LDS Journal History Jan. 6, 1849 The party recommended waiting for winter conditions to subside. Then on the last day of February 1849, the Mormon Militia (Nauvoo Legion) was called to leave their homes in Salt Lake City and go southward on a mission which culminated at Battle Creek, Utah, and which some might consider to have been essentially a preemptive strike against the Timpanogots (Ute) Indians who resided in Utah Valley.Goes back to events recorded in Stout Diary at beginning of article See also *Battle at Fort Utah *Act for the relief of Indian Slaves and Prisoners Notes References * On the Mormon Frontier, The Diary of Hosea Stout, 1844–1861, Vol. 2, Edited by Juanita Brooks, University of Utah Press, 1964, pages 344-347 * Diary of Oliver B. Huntington, 1847–1900, Vol. 2, L. Tom Perry Special Collections Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, pages 47–55 & 331-341 * Dimick Baker Huntington, Statement on Battle Creek Fight, January 1, 1862, MS 4085, LDS Archives * LDS Journal History (May be read at LDS Church History Library) * History of Utah in Four Volumes, Orson F. Whitney, March 1892, page 423 (Held at Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah) * Autobiography of Pioneer John Brown, 1820–1896, Arranged & Published by his son, John Zimmerman Brown, 1941, pages 103-105 * Provo, Pioneer Mormon City, compiled by...Writers Program...for the state of Utah, copyright 1942 Provo City Commission, pages 36–44 * Timpanogos Town, Story of Old Battle Creek and Pleasant Grove, Utah, Howard R. Driggs, 1948, pages 14–23 * The Forgotten Kingdom, The Mormon Theocracy in the American West, 1847–1896, David L. Bigler, 1998, pages 66–68 * Founding Fort Utah, Provo's Native Inhabitants, Early Explorers, and first Year of Settlement, D. Robert Carter, 2003, Provo City Corporation, pages 60–67 External links * Pleasant Grove City's Account of the Battle Creek Attack Click on "Prelude to Settlement, The Battle Creek Battle" for this account * Phillip B. Gottfredson's Account of the Battle Creek Attack Category:Conflicts in 1849 Category:History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Category:Mormonism and violence Category:Mormonism and Native Americans Category:Mormonism-related controversies Category:Pre-statehood history of Utah Category:The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Utah Category:Timpanogos tribe Category:Massacres of Native Americans Category:Wars fought in Utah Category:March 1849 events